Amor Caecus Est : Love is Blind
by skiergal
Summary: Sam and Jack meet before the briefing room. But, the attraction is less than there....
1. The Beginning

AMOR CAECUS EST

**Summary: **Sam and Jack meet before that fateful day in the SGC briefing room.

Why is it that they don't remember?  
**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately, none of these characters are mine. But the story is. However, if someone from Gekko or MGM felt that they would like to use it, by

all means….

**Pairings: **Like you don't know. Sam & Jack, possibly Janet & Daniel (btw, Janet is alive in my little world - I'm slightly in denial about the whole Heroes' segment

_**A/N:** Words in italics indicate thought, and will also have '…' around it_

A Special Thank You to **VisualIDentificationZeta**who caught many of my inaccuracies regarding military protocol and the dates of the Gulf War.

Chapter One: The Beginning

_December 18, 1986_

_Sam is 21 and Jack is 36_

Cadet Samantha Carter sat impatiently in squeaky plastic seat at the Chicago O'Hare airport. She had known that the holiday traffic would be bad; but she hadn't prepared herself mentally for the six-hour delay of her flight from Chicago. She was on a connection from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and was supposed to be going to the Denver Airport, where someone (not her father) would pick her up, and take her to Peterson Air Force Base. Her father, General Jacob Carter, was not on her top-ten peoples list. She was still not over the death of her mother, even several years later, and as she always did, was planning on addressing HIM as General the whole trip.

The intercom beeped annoyingly, and the oh-so-happy voice of the counter attendant came on.

"Flight 294 to the Denver International Airport has been cancelled. Please come to ticket counter C23 if you would like to make other arrangements for flying with AirTran this afternoon. Thank You."

Sam leaned back, and barely contained a grown. _'I just remembered why I hate commercial flights...' _She SO hated her father right now. She would have happily stayed with her cousin, and her cousin's new husband, but no, she had to go to some stupid Air Force Base, and spend Christmas with a bunch of old "flyboys", as her father called them.

She stood and stretched, noticing the look on the hot guy's face across from her. Yes', she decided, _those crunches are looking good right now.' _After a lazy yawn and a quick glance at "hot guy", she set off in search of a pay phone.

Sam dropped her coins in, and dialed her dad's number - she thought. Ring... ringring..ring, . ri-

"Hello?" came a man's voice, unfamiliar to Sam.

"Hi, I need to speak with General Carter," Sam said, twirling the phone cord around her index finger.

"Well, you might try his office..." The man's voice replied.

"I thought this was his office," Sam replied, starting to get annoyed - and she'd only been on the phone for a couple of seconds!

"Nope. Sorry to disappoint you. This is Lieutenant Kawalsky. Would you like me to connect you?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"Yes, I would like you to tell my father that if he doesn't get on the phone, I will go right back to the city." The airman promised to do so, and Sam waited while the cheesy elevator music was played over the earpiece.

Suddenly it stopped, and there was a click, and then Jacob's annoyed voice came over the line.

"Samantha Carter what the hell is going on? I was in a meeting with the General of the Air Force!"

"Well, excuse me, GENERAL but Cadet Carter is trapped in enemy hands."

"WHAT?"

"My flight got cancelled, so unless you can get me on another one, I'm turning myself right around."

Jacob cursed under his breath, and covered the mouthpiece. A minute later he came back on, the stress evident in his voice.

"There is a transport plane coming to Peterson from O'Hare, okay? Get yourself on that." And with that, Jacob hung up, just in time to realize that Sam had no idea where the flight was scheduled to depart from.

'109, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3..."'Ring! Ring! Ring!" went the pay phone.

"Wow, Dad, it only took you 7 seconds to figure out that I had no idea where I was going, and get the number. Is that a new record?" She said sarcastically.

"Samantha Carter, that is not funny. You will go to gate D18, and the pilot will be waiting. His name is... something Irish, I forget. Make sure to say thank you, alright young lady!"

"Yes Dad," she said with syrupy sweetness, and then slammed down the receiver.

On the other end, Jacob Carter was apologizing profusely to the General of the Air Force, trying desperately to explain why he had had to leave the meeting so suddenly.

Sam took her time walking through the airport. That was one of the perks of being a general's daughter. None of the lower ranking officers dared to reprimand her for anything, because she was their commanding officer's child. None, except this particular flyboy.

She reached the D concourse, after coming through the AF security, and meandered down to gate D18. She had a large slurpie in one hand, and her Walkman in the other.

As she arrived at Gate D18, she saw the man that she assumed was her pilot. She approached, and he stood, eyeing her.

"You Cadet Carter?" He asked, glancing down at his sheet of paper. "Yeah." She said. "Who are you?"

"Major Jack O'Neill." And with that he swiftly took her slurpie, and disconnected her headphones.

"What was that for?" She asked.

"That was for being half an hour late, Cadet - now get on the planet!" "You obviously don't know whose child you are talking to!" She retorted. "Wow," Jack said under his breath, "Never thought I'd see the day when

this would happen." With this, he spoke loudly, command evident in his voice.

"Cadet Carter, please stand at attention."

Sam did as she was told; this was the downside of being a general's daughter that just happened to be enrolled in the Air Force Academy. She had to listen to him; he outranked her.

"Cadet, with all due respect to your parents, I don't give a damn whose kid you are. You are a Cadet in the USAF, and will behave accordingly. Now please board the aircraft"

She did as she told, and he climbed in after her. Sam was surprised. Normally, people wanted to know whose kid they were addressing even if the person **was **acadet, but apparently not this guy. She respected him a teensy bit for that; she hated kiss-ups to the higher ranking officers, although it normally got her what she wanted.

"So, how did you get stuck running transports?" She asked. But, he didn't answer, just climbed into the cockpit and sealed the door. Grumpily, she settled in for the ride, already antsy.

Throughout the flight, Sam tried to get into the cockpit, but Mister High­and-Mighty Major wasn't buying it. When they finally landed, she hurried off the plane, glad to be there. She loved flying, but hated not being in control. It was her dream to planes, and eventually to enter NASA as an astronaut. And, as soon as she blew out of the academy that was exactly what she planned on doing. She hated the academy. It was so elementary, even for someone who was 21 years old, and two grades ahead of her contemporaries, and in graduate school, working at a double Ph.D. in Astrophysics and Quantum Mechanics. She had skipped kindergarten all together, and when she reached middle school, had jumped to seventh grade. Her mother had been ecstatic, her father as well. _So it's true; speak__ of the devil and he will appear._' shethought, as her father rounded the corner on his AF-issued golf cart. She threw her bags on the back, not noticing the one small item that fell from her purse. Jack stepped off the plane at that moment, and started to run, hoping to catch her. But, it was too late. She had already gone. He picked up the item gingerly from the tarmac. It was an exquisitely carved bracelet, with the initials S.E.C. ground into the under portion.

Jack slipped it in his pocket; making a mental note to turn it into lost and found later that day. But, it slipped his mind, and when he returned to his base quarters, set it on his dresser But, the years went by, and the bracelet was no longer of any importance to him, as he readied himself for the rigorous training ahead of him. He was scheduled to be sent off to Iraq and the Middle East with a small group of other black ops guys, with orders straight from the President himself. And, to make matters more complicated, his girlfriend insisted on marrying before he was scheduled to deploy. The cadet he had flown from Chicago was no longer in his memory, and he soon forgot about the bracelet hidden in his sock drawer.

While Jack was training, Sam was finishing her Ph.D. And, four years laterin 1991, she left for the Persian Gulf, as a member of a flight crew for the F-16 pilots going into enemy airspace. The man who had flown her to Peterson had quickly fallen out of her head. She had other things to concentrate on, and had soon forgotten the bracelet as well.

Jack returned from the Middle East that year, and while Sam was working on her infamous 100+ hours in the Persian Gulf, Jack welcomed his first son, Charlie O'Neill.

Jack was re-arranging his sock drawer one day; making room to hide his .45 caliber, when he found the bracelet. He shrugged, and put it on top of his dresser, wondering what had become of the insolent cadet. He bet that she had gone on to do bigger things than black ops. He picked the bracelet up, and twirled it through his fingers, as he remembered the spark in her eye; and the defiance in her posture.

_**A/N:** Where I grew up, sixth grade starts middle school, versus the traditional "junior high" which is only seventh and eighth. Sorry if that confused anyone._


	2. Meetings

AMOR CAECUS EST

**Summary: **Sam and Jack met before that fateful day in the briefing room…..Why is it that they don't remember?

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, none of these characters are mine. But, the story is. But, if TBTP want to borrow some ideas, I'm not against it, at all.

**Pairings: **Like you don't know. Sam & Jack, possibly Janet & Daniel (btw, Janet is alive in my little world - I'm slightly in denial about the whole "Heroes" segment)

**_A/N:_** _Words in italics indicate thought, and will have '….' around them._

_**A/N2:** I take have no clue about military stuff, as was fairly evident in the last chapter. So, no flames please…I am also trying to keep dates the same, per the actors birthdates. And, we're skipping several years – and will most likely continue to do so._

August 15th, 1993

Sam is 28, Jack is 43

A blue car was approaching the Pentagon – fast, and slightly recklessly. As it neared, the driver could be seen, frantically driving and putting makeup on, at the same time, while still trying to maneuver the small car. It screeched to a halt at the security checkpoint, and the guard on duty tried to hide her smile. The woman, while impeccably dressed, had obviously not been paying attention to her lipstick. As the guard waited, the woman searched frantically through her purse, trying in vain to find her pass that would allow her clearance into the Pentagon.

"Ah ha!" The woman exclaimed, pulling off the receipt that was currently attached to her badge. She handed the guard the badge, and stuffed the recently emptied contents of her purse back into the small bag, and waited while the guard finished checking her badge.

As the woman pulled away from the station, she noticed a sticky note attached to the laminated paper. "Check your lipstick." it said. The woman swung into a parking spot, and quickly flipped the mirror down. Muttering under her breath, she grabbed a tissue, and hurriedly wiped the Marilyn Monroe-esque red lipstick from her lips. She grabbed her purse, her badge, and then flew into the waiting elevator, mashing the button for the fourth floor. She had exactly three and a half minutes until her meeting started.

_**Exactly three and a half minutes later**_

The woman flew into the room, apologizing profusely to the woman waiting at the table.

"Sam, calm down darling, it's just a meeting." Catherine Langford said.

"It's not just any meeting, Catherine! This is the biggest meeting yet!" Sam exclaimed, as she threw her overstuffed bag on the table, and slumped into a seat. It would figure, she thought, that she was only the second person there, AND had just barely been on time.

Catherine shook her head. Sam was the hardest working, most dedicated, and overbearingly organized person she had ever met – at work. But, it appeared that if you took the work away, she was completely unorganized, and had an awful tendency to throw her alarm clock off the bedside table, as she frequently explained to Catherine, in apology for being late. Just then a man walked in. He was not tall, but not short – 5'10" Catherine guessed. And, he had the shiniest head that she had ever seen.

"Brigadier General George Hammond." He said in greeting, extending his hand toward the women. Catherine introduced herself, and Sam gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. At Catherine's odd look, Sam explained herself.

"Uncle George and I have known each other forever – he was one of my dad's closest friends."

"Ahh," said Catherine, "That would explain the slightly un-military greeting." Sam looked at her sheepishly.

"Yes, well, he called yesterday and said he would be here. We haven't seen each other in ages." She said.

At that moment, a taller, more distinguished man walked in. Sam eyed him warily. He seemed familiar, though she couldn't place him at all.

He saluted as he entered, and Hammond returned the salute, before shaking his hand heartily.

"It's good to see you again, sir," The man said.

"Same to you, Jack, same to you. I was glad to here that you were back from the forces; for good now?" Hammond asked.

"Well sir," the man replied, "It's hard to say. But I heard that today's meeting was concerning that exact question."

As if seeing them for the first time, the man's eyebrows raised slightly.

"Sorry for not introducing myself, ma'am, and," he squinted to look at Sam's insignia's, "Lieutenant." He said.

"No worries at all." Catherine replied, "I'm Catherine Langford." She then glanced at Sam, who had the look on her face of someone far off in thought. Catherine lightly prodded her with her elbow. As if coming out of a trance, Sam's eyes snapped back to reality, and she snapped off a salute.

"Lieutenant Carter, sir." She said, as a way of introducing herself.

"At ease, Lieutenant." He replied, giving her the once-over, taking in her haphazardly tucked in uniform, the mess of papers crowding the table in front of her, and the non-regulation hair flowing down her shoulders and back. He looked away indifferently, and Sam felt a pang of rejection. '_How is that possible?'_ She wondered, _'I just met the man two minutes ago.'_ Yet, she had a nagging sensation that she had seen him before. She just wished she could remember when. When at last the Pentagon advisor arrived – half an hour late, Sam noted – she still could not remember where she had seen him before. During that half hour, as well, Jack had chosen to ignore the looks he was getting from the woman. For some reason, that he could not explain, he knew her. And he knew that she had the same feeling. But, he soon engrossed himself in a conversation with George Hammond, and they were in the middle of a heated argument about the better hockey team when the advisor arrived, effectively ending their comical dialogue.

_**Two hours, twelve minutes, and forty-two seconds later**_

Jack had lost concentration after the first hour. The Pentagon, Hammond, Catherine, and the Lieutenant, whose name he had forgotten, all wanted to move him to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, for a stay of upward of two years. His favorite part was the purpose of the move - to work in the unofficial "Deep Space Telemetry" unit of the Air Force. At first the idea was amusing, to Jack. Play with telescopes, and get paid. It sounded like a great idea to him, until he learned that there were no telescopes when you were 27 levels under a mountain, in an abandoned missile silo. But, apparently he had no choice in the matter, so he tuned out. Someone would tell him later. When the meeting finally ended, Jack bolted from the room. Sam collected her stuff hurriedly, and tried to catch him, but with out any luck. She sighed, frustrated. It would take her forever to fall asleep tonight; because she knew that she would be up, trying to place the man's face.

_**That afternoon, Jack's house**_

Jack got out of the car, and walked up the cobbled steps, opening the front door with one hand, balancing the mail, his coffee cup, and the jacket in the other. What he found was not a pretty sight. Sarah was sitting on the couch, with puffy eyes, holding an empty box of tissue.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" He asked, dropping what he was carrying, and stepping over to the couch.

"Who is she?" Sarah asked, in a monotone, I've- been- crying voice.

"What do you mean?" He asked, baffled by the question.

"I found this today, while I was looking through your drawer for a pair of socks." She said, handing him a satin case, with an intricately carven bracelet inside.

"What? You thought…Sarah, you….WHAT!" Jack exclaimed, jumping up from where he had settled.

"You thought I was having an affair?" He yelled, whirling to look at her.

"Jack, I didn't know what to think. I found this, you've been gone so much, and I've gotten calls from restaurants confirming reservations for two, under Jack O'Neill. What did you want me to think?" She asked, her voice breaking under the tears.

"Sarah, I told you, I've been at the Pentagon in meetings all month. The reservations were supposed to be for us –"he paused, at the disbelief showing on her face.

"No, honestly, they were. I wanted to take you somewhere – kept trying, but I always got held back, or you went somewhere, or Charlie was sick…." His trailed off, looking earnestly at her.

"You have to believe me. And the bracelet is something that fell out of a cadet's bag, when I was flying transports years ago." At that, Sarah snorted.

"Jack, please, transports?" He nodded.

"It was right after Charlie was born, and I had taken some leave from the forces, but didn't want to just quit, remember?"

Sarah finally relented, looking at him.

"Alright, I believe you." She said.

"Really?" He asked, "That was quick."

She shot him a look, and he dramatically gulped. She giggled, and stood, wrapping her arms around him.

"Let's go find Charlie," she said, "He'll want to see you before he goes to batting practice."

They walked outside, pausing to hug once more, the heat basking down on them from the warm sun.

"BANG!!!"


	3. Recognizing

AMOR CAECUS EST

**Summary: **Sam and Jack met before that fateful day in the briefing room…..Why is it that they don't remember?

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, none of these characters are mine. But, the story is. But, if TPTB want to borrow some ideas, I'm not against it, at all.

**Pairings: **Like you don't know. Sam & Jack, possibly Janet & Daniel (btw, Janet is alive in my little world - I'm slightly in denial about the whole "Heroes" segment)

**_A/N:_** _Words in italics indicate thought, and will have '….' around them._

_**A/N2: **I still know nothing about the military, or how long it was in the show between events…please forgive me._

August 15th, 1997

Sam is 32, Jack is 47

Jack placed the flowers on the headstone, and walked away. It was still too painful, even four years later, to visit the grave of his son. '_It was all my fault. The whole damn thing. If I'd been there, if I'd unloaded it, locked it, put the' _"Safety on!" he exclaimed, his voice suddenly gracing the silence of the cemetery. And then, Jack felt the tears start to come. And as much as he tried, he couldn't will them to not roll down his cheeks. So, he stood up, gruffly said goodbye, and walked as quickly as possible back to his truck. He started the engine with a roar, and sent gravel flying as he accelerated from the parking lot. He checked his watch. He had a meeting in 2 hours at Cheyenne Mountain. And the commander of the base had made it explicitly clear that he was to be there on time, and in his Class A's, ready to meet the people that would make up the team tentatively titled SG-1.

_**Cheyenne Mountain Complex, 1300 hours. **_

Sam sat down in the huge briefing room chairs. On the outside, she was the picture of discipline; she was taking notes, listening attentively, and seemed genuinely interested, thrilled even, to have the chance to work on the most coveted piece of history in the United States of America. But, on the inside, she was gloating to herself. She had taken that Colonel down a notch, in front of his friends too. '_Haha, Mr. Colonel-sir. Bring it on. I can handle you'. _

After the meeting was over, Jack left the room with his head spinning. The theoretical astrophysicist/Captain in the Air Force/General Carter's daughter/uber-feminist was quite a bundle of energy. Through the entire briefing she had insight into every aspect of every portion of the fledgling program, and, though he had tried very hard to find some part of her persona that wasn't perfect, he had failed. The woman was incredible. And he, the hard-ass Colonel respected the hell out of that. Though he was damn well not going to tell her, he was impressed beyond belief at her knowledge and expertise. But, he had a nagging feeling that he knew her somehow. He wasn't sure how, but her face seemed somewhat familiar.

_**stargatestargatestargatestargatestargatestargatestargate**_

As he sat at his desk, he rolled the bracelet around in his fingers. It had come to symbolize his life. A never ending circle of karma. And he didn't like it. At that moment, Captain Carter walked into his office. He quickly hid the bracelet – it didn't look good if your CO had a bracelet on, he reasoned to himself.

"Sir, I was wondering, when exactly are we leaving?"

"Captain, how many times do I have to tell you?" Jack responded, tired of the tireless Captain.

"Well, sir, it's just that it keeps getting moved around, and I don't want to be late, and if I'm late then you'll be mad, and I don't know you, and I need to make a good impression…"She rambled, before Jack held up his hand.

"Of anyone, Captain, I thought you would be the least likely to be worried about being late. I bet you've never been late to anything in your life."

"Well.." she started, but Jack stopped her.

"Captain, be in the embarkment room at 0800 tomorrow. Dismissed."

Sam nodded her head, and turned on her heel in a perfect military salute. As soon as she was gone, Jack got the bracelet back out. And as he turned it over in his hand, he noticed something. The initials on the inside of the band. He squinted to look at them, and made out S.E.C. Then, it hit him. He knew where he recognized his Captain from. She was the obnoxious brat he had flown to Peterson years earlier. He smirked. It didn't surprise him that the brat had become a perfectly formed military Captain. He had seen the spark in her eyes 11 years ago, and he saw it daily now. He just wondered if she would ever recognize him.

_**a/n: **So, do y'all like it? Let me know! Reviews inspire me (if y'all ever want me to finish this story, you better review!)_


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